Homemade Twix Bars

Intro

If you don’t want gaggles of children beating down your door on Halloween night then look no further. If you’d rather not be the most popular house on the block then continue on your Internet search. If you aren’t a fan of a cookie crust so tender it shatters in your mouth, or a creamy caramel – dark, intense and scattered with salt, or bittersweet chocolate blended with butter to create the perfect cap to this cookie, then you might need to get checked because I think something is very wrong.

If you like the idea of all these things then you are in the right spot and you are here just in time as this is the perfect cookie for this candy-laden season. While I don’t recommend passing these treats out to your trick-or-treaters as homemade treats aren’t super popular these days, save these for special guests or Halloween parties. If you are like me you’ll save them for the fridge so you have something sweet to snack on each time you open the fridge door. And if you are like me you’ll need to open the door multiple times before you remember why you were opening the fridge in the first place – giving you plenty of times to enjoy these cookies.

If you’ve been to Spago for lunch then perhaps you’ve had this dessert fancied up with a fleck of edible gold on the chocolate layer. This dessert was so popular it was rarely off the menu during my time there.

I recommend serving them while they still have a slight chill from the fridge. That way the caramel has a pleasant chew and they most resemble the famous candy bar. They can be cut small and served as a cookie or larger and plated for a nice dessert. I wrapped mine up in parchment (or wax paper) so they were even more reminiscent of their candy bar cousins.

Homemade Twix

2 tablespoons ground rice (rice processed in a spice grinder until it is able to pass through a fine sieve to remove chunks)*

Make the Shortbread:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-X-13-inch baking pan with pan spray and line with parchment paper. Spray the parchment.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Gradually add the flour, ground rice and salt and allow the dough to come together. The dough will be crumbly but should hold together when you squeeze it.

Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the baking pan. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pan from front to back and bake for another 10 minutes, until the shortbread is a deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack to room temperature.

*Several people have asked about the rice. I just used what I had in the house – brown rice, and the results were great. It’s not the same as rice flour because you want to have a little bit of texture. The purpose of the rice is to give the base of this cookie a unique crunch that remarkably resembles the store-bought Twix. This can be omitted without drastically changing the finished product. But I encourage you to try it. I really love the texture it gives.

Meanwhile, prepare the ….

Caramel

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup (Regular corn syrup is fine)

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/4 teaspoon salt plus more for sprinkling over the caramel layer

Make the Caramel:

Combine the sugar, golden syrup, water, and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Remove any sugar crystals from the sides of the pan by wiping down the sides with water. You can use your hand or a pastry brush. Place the pot on medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Wipe down any stray sugar crystals that appear using a very clean and wet pastry brush. Do not stir from this point on. Keep an eye on the pan. The mixture will be very bubbly.

When the sugar syrup starts to turn golden brown insert a candy thermometer to check the temperature. When it reaches 300°F, remove the pan from the heat and let it sit for 1minute, or until the bubbles subside. Carefully whisk in the heavy cream. Stir until smooth, then whisk in the condensed milk. Add the salt (vanilla salt is very nice here if you have it) Whisk until smooth.

Return the pan to the heat and stir constantly over medium heat until the caramel reaches 240°F. Remove from the heat and pour over the shortbread. While the caramel is warm sprinkle the surface with the best quality salt you have. Kosher is fine, Fleur de Sel is better, Maldon would be my preferred choice.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a bain marie or in the microwave. If using the microwave melt it slowly – in 30 second intervals. Stir well after each interval.

Once completely melted pour over the caramel. Using an offset spatula, smooth the chocolate in a nice even layer.

Place in the refrigerator to set. They cut best when chilled.

Cut into desired shape and size. Serve.

I highly recommend Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever, not just because she was my boss and I had the pleasure of working on this book but because the recipes are unique, incredibly satisfying and the book itself is stunning – full of beautiful photos and heartfelt stories of Sherry’s life told through pastries. Sherry is an incredible talent when it comes to flour, butter and sugar – anything she creates is a winner – just ask the Academy Award attendees she serves every year after the award show.

180 Responses to “Homemade Twix Bars”

Sweet serendipity! I have a tin of Lyle’s Golden Syrup that I bought at a tiny Swedish shop near us, purely for its darling packaging & have wondered if I’d happen upon a recipe for its use. Thank you. 🙂

Piehole – You scared me for a second there. I thought I really left something out – wouldn’t surprise me. One must not think about crunches while eating these. Sit back and enjoy and worry about that later. 🙂

These look fantastic! Is there a specific type of rice you recommend? These might just be the dessert I take to a Halloween party, but first I must try the recipe out on myself. Quality testing, I’m sure you understand 🙂

Oh my! Twix are my favorite candy bar in existence and I always feel that twinge of foodie guilt for liking them since they’re sugar-laden, packaged goods that I’m told I’m supposed to despise. I’ll always love them, but really these do look way better. My teeth are feeling the chew of that caramel just looking at the photo.

I really like your ratio of caramel and chocolate to cookie as oppose to the original twix. I have been on a chocolate binge for the past few months and there is just too much cookie and too little chocolate and caramel. But your picture looks delicious with that giant portion of caramel alone outweighing the cookie.

Temperatures and cooking times are problematic at our altitude (over 5000′) and making adjustments has been more guesswork than science with caramel recipes. Even though the candy thermometer hadn’t reached 240 degrees for the final step, I was afraid the mixture was starting to burn because so much time had elapsed. Now I know to trust the temperature because the caramel in this first batch is too soft.

What I have is a glorious mess of delicious shortbread, caramel and chocolate and I can’t wait to make more. Between this recipe and the bacon caramels, I’m a happy camper. Thank you!

Please – a clarification of the ingredients and instructions: When you say 2 tablespoons of ground rice (rice processed in a spice grinder, etc., do you mean UNCOOKED “raw” rice?? Like, you take 2 T. uncooked white or brown rice ‘kernels’ and grind them?? Or is this rice cereal like Rice Krispies? Or is this cooked rice? Or what? I have never known of eating raw, uncooked rice so I want to be sure about this. If it is raw, uncooked rice and it is ground so fine as to pass through a fine sieve, could you just use rice FLOUR? Could you use ground nuts instead?? Thanks for your attention; as you can see, I could use some help!

Annie – Thanks for your question. I have now added a note about the rice in the recipe.
It’s simply raw rice (I used brown because it’s what I had) that has been ground in a spice grinder. It’s not as fine as rice flour so it will give the bar a unique crunch that is really enjoyable.
Thanks for reading!

I am very excited about this recipe, since I have an allergy to soybean oil and commercial Twix is loaded with it. I haven’t had one since I discovered the allergy a year ago. Now to go look for a good homemade Reeses’ cup recipe too…

Wow, just made these. The are ridiculously rich! The other thing is I had a really hard time cutting them. They seem to melt as soon as I take them out of the fridge. Maybe my caramel didn’t set right? Oh well, either way they are great. Just have to cut them small 🙂

The shortbread soaked up the caramel so instead of having a layer of caramel I have caramel infused shortbread which isn’t the worst thing. But I was wondering if you could guess what I might have done wrong, like Darylynne my caramel never reached 240 degrees but it started bubbling over the top that I had to remove it. Do you have any suggestions for round two?

Joanna – Next time try using a larger pot so the caramel has room to grow. In order to get the right consistency it really needs to read 240*. It will be very dark but you will be rewarded with a very rich and delicious caramel.

hey there, i have questions,is it okay if i use dr.oetker continental chocolate and wonderbar milk chocolate instead of bittersweet chocolate?andd for the cake flour,i couldnt find one in the nearest market so is it possible if im using sponge mix?its sorta like a sponge cake mix.they’re also dont have any heavy cream.theres only double cream in my place so can i use it to replace it?and last question,i dont have any candy thermometer so how can i check the caramel when it is ready ?is there anything i can use to replace it?
hoping you can give me a reply,thank you ashley !

NZ – I’m not familiar with many of those products so I can’t guarantee the same results. You can use milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate. For the flour I would use regular all-purpose flour and add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch per 1 cup of flour. This will mimic the protein content found in cake flour. I wouldn’t recommend using a cake mix.
When making the caramel have a cold bowl of water nearby. When the caramel starts to get very dark golden starting testing it by dropping a little bit of the caramel in the cold water with a spoon. When the caramel cools in the water it should be soft but still hold together.
I hope that helps. Thanks for reading!

I just made these because I just couldn’t resist making my husbands absolute favorite candy into a Thanksgiving desert. I followed the directions exactly. I felt like the shortbread was pulled too thin and I should have used a smaller glass so that it was a bit thicker. I also just put it in the fridge to cool and although I used a candy thermometer, my caramel feels absolutely rock hard. I think I had the opposite problem a few of the other commenters have experienced. I’m hoping it turns out okay in the morning; not sure how it would soften up though. Perhaps I should have just not gotten it to 240 degrees like suggested. I was thinking it would be a chewy caramel, much like the candy. Perhaps I did something wrong but I’m not usually one to mess up a recipe!!! {Regardless, they will be eaten, that I am sure of!}

I am going to try making these today. My question is, has anyone tried freezing them for later? I usually do my holiday baking over a few weeks, freezing as I go. I wasn’t sure how the caramel would freeze.

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I tried these last night, but my shortbread completely fell apart…as i cut it, the caramel would detach from the cookie, sigh…fail! any suggestions on round two? (the crumbled mess was delicious, don’t get me wrong, just not a pretty presentation)

Laura – First of all, I am so sorry. I find it maddening when recipes don’t work as you expect them too. The shortbread is indeed VERY crumbly. A couple tips. Pack it very tight in the pan before baking. Secondly, when cutting out the bars I recommend using a serrated knife and carefully cut using a slight sawing motion.
I’m not sure why the caramel didn’t stick. I’ve never had that happen. Possibly it was too cool when you poured it in?
I’m so sorry. Let me know if you try it again.

YUM! this looks delicious! I absolutely LOVE Twix! I featured your recipe today at Mouth Watering Monday! Come check it out and feel free to grab a featured button!
-Nikkihttp://chef-n-training.blogspot.com/

One question — do you use regular table salt in the shortbread and the caramel, and Maldon only on top of the caramel? Or should I use Maldon throughout? I’m making these for a cookie exchange next weekend — can’t wait!

When do you take the shortbread out of the pan? Do you layer everything in the pan then once it’s completely cooled, remove from the pan and take the paper off? I read through the instructions a couple times but I think I’m just missing something…

I only made the caramel and I am so happy with how it turned out! I’m using it to make chocolate caramel cups. I’ve had bad luck with caramel in the past, so I’m extremely grateful for this post! Would love to make the Twix bars… just need to find the time.

Just made these. I know, foolish to do with out a thermometer, but I did. I had one question. The final set stage of your carmel, is it chewy, or hard? On the thermometer read outs (where it tells what stage is at what temperature) 240 read ‘firm ball’ . Mine was cooked to a firm ball, but I’m worried my guests will break their teeth! 🙂 Just wondering from the delicious picture of yours how your final carmel set? Everything else went fantastic! Thanks!!

I was so excited to find this recipe but think something went astray. I followed the directions on the caramel but it is rock hard, even after having it sit out at room temperature. Any thoughts? Thank you!

Laura – Have you checked the accuracy of your thermometer lately. It sounds like the sugar cooked a bit too long. Be careful of carry over cooking. Remove the pan from the heat a few degrees before it reaches the target temperature. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. Caramel can be a bit tricky as there are so many factors involved.

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We’ve been eating these for decades and we know them as Scrumptious Lumps. (Millionaire’s Squares – because they’re so rich – in the UK) We make the caramel by simmering sweetened condensed milk in it’s can for hours and hours (careful not to let it boil dry) Mum made them once with unsalted butter and she’s still hearing about it!

Hi Ashley,
I’ve been scouring the internet for a Twix recipe that doesn’t involve melting down Krat caramels. My bars are cooling in the fridge right now, and I’m debating between using your chocolate glaze or dipping the bars in tempered chocolate. Do you think that dipping/coating them would work, or they likely to fall apart?
Thanks!